28 April 2007

It's bad enough that we blew a 37-27 lead with 7:22 left in the half. But then we had to let Detroit make yet another buzzer-beating shot at the end of a quarter. They've done that countless times throughout this series, and they did it again here. Grant Hill made two free throws to put the Magic ahead by 46-45 with :03 remaining in the half. The Pistons were prepared, having called a 20-second timeout in between Hill's free throws to set up a play. Rasheed Wallace threw a long bomb to Rip Hamilton, who caught the ball at halfcourt, took a few steps toward the basket, and laid the ball in as the buzzer sounded.

If this were the first time the Pistons had made that sort of shot in this series, I'd say "Incredible. Unbelievable." But at this point, with this team, I've come to expect end-of-quarter meltdowns.

But the meltdown didn't start there. As I mentioned, we held a 10-point lead with 7:22 remaining. Here's how the rest of the quarter played out.

ORL - Trevor Ariza misses jumper

DET - Carlos Delfino makes jumper (29-37)

ORL - Darko Milicic bad pass turnover

DET - Carlos Delfino makes two free throws (31-37)

ORL - J.J. Redick lost ball turnover

DET - Chris Webber makes layup (33-37)

ORL - Darko Milicic misses jumper

ORL - Trevor Ariza misses layup

DET - Carlos Delfino makes jumper (35-37)

At this point, Brian Hill called a timeout; I guess he was displeased with his team giving up 8 straight points, 6 of which were scored by a mediocre role player. The Magic didn't fare much better after the timeout, though.

ORL - Hedo Turkoglu misses jumper

DET - Flip Murray makes a free throw (36-37)

ORL - Grant Hill bad pass turnover

ORL - Hedo Turkoglu bad pass turnover

DET - Carlos Delfino makes layup (38-37)

ORL - Darko Milicic makes two free throws (38-39)

ORL - Grant Hill lost ball turnover

DET - Chris Webber makes dunk (40-39)

ORL - Dwight Howard misses layup

DET - Chauncey Billups makes three-point jumper (43-39)

ORL - Hedo Turkoglu misses jumper

ORL - Darko Milicic misses tip-in

ORL - Dwight Howard makes layup (43-41)

ORL - Grant Hill makes layup (43-43)

DET - Rasheed Wallace makes dunk (45-43)

ORL - Grant Hill makes a free throw (45-44)

At this point, Grant Hill made the two free throws to which I alluded earlier, then Hamilton countered with his backbreaking layup.

I'm encouraged because we were up so large on Detroit early, but I'm discouraged because the Pistons played terribly and still hold a one-point lead.